New Jersey Devils: Veteran Leadership Is Key To Playoff Success

The New Jersey Devils beat the Washington Capitals in overtime on Thursday night to cap off a 52-win regular season, a franchise record setter. Luke Hughes played unlikely hero with the OT winner.

Most players on this Devils team are not even in their prime nor even remotely close. A big momentum swing forward now has them playing their biggest enemy, the New York Rangers. Yes, there may be some young guys who haven’t been in the playoffs on this roster, but the New Jersey Devils have acquired veteran players with playoff experience. Plus, the coaching staff themselves have made it to the playoffs during their previous stops.

Tomas Tatar and Erik Haula are perfect examples of players who have come up big during the regular season and have playoff experience on the forward core. The addition of John Marino brings that playoff stability in his own zone after all that time back with the Pittsburgh Penguins. GM Tom Fitzgerald knew that it would be smart to build this team in a similar fashion to his former employer, and adding a player like Marino was the perfect start. Ryan Graves played in 25 playoff games in two seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.

Dougie Hamilton made the playoffs over six different seasons. He amassed 25 points and 17 assists in 54 games with Boston, Calgary, and Carolina. Brendan Smith is a veteran leader on defense with seven postseason appearances under his belt. Even if Smith doesn’t play much, he’ll be guiding the Kevin Bahls and the Luke Hugheses on how to handle the tighter ice, physical play, and the wild atmosphere in a best of 7 series.

Although it is a bit bizarre for some to comprehend Curtis Lazar’s name after spending so little time on the ice for the Devils, adding Lazar would bring that extra grit and sandpaper Sasquatchy forward who can be a thorn in the Rangers behinds. You probably saw it from the way Lazar agitated Rasmus Sandin in Game 82 recently. He beat him bad. The native of British Columbia, Canada has played in the playoffs with the Boston Bruins and will bring that edge but also could fill in on the 4th line, especially if Michael McLeod is still out with a lingering injury. One of the really underrated parts of his game is his ability to retrieve pucks, and deny offensive capable opponents a lot with his positioning, and being able to make them feel miserable in many ways on the bottom line.

Timo Meier has already scored a beautiful power-play goal against the Rangers. He is no stranger to the playoffs. He has taken care of some business over three playoffs appearances with the Sharks. He has scored 20 points in 35 games played during his younger years in the league. Meier has seven goals in those sequences, and he has the tools by his side playing alongside a Hischier or even a Hughes. He’s likely gonna be a winger next to Nico Hischier. Having Meier get hot at the right time is monumental. This will be huge for the Devils as a whole.

Erik Haula has been in the playoffs eight times with 30 points in 61 games played. He has scored six goals in 10 games played, which means he’s only getting primed up for playoff hockey. Haula doesn’t need to be the go-to guy. However, he is the guy for clutch goals alongside Ondrej Palat.

It wouldn’t be fair to leave Ondrej Palat out of this piece. Although Palat hasn’t had a big year, he is a big centerpiece of this veteran core. Palat has won two Stanley Cups and appeared in the most recent Stanley Cup Final. Out of his eight playoff appearances, he netted 94 points in 138 playoff games while getting 48 goals being that key cog for the Tampa Bay Lightning almost winning three Cups in a row.

Yes, Palat got 23 points in 49 games played, which seems very weak to his Tampa Bay standards, but the New Jersey Devils have so much depth, high-end talented veterans, superstar young guns, and more seasoned veterans all competing day in and day out, it will drive playoff competition. Palat has been a leader off the ice with other veterans like Erik Haula, who kept guys like Jesper Bratt, Hischier, and Jack Hughes through thick and thin. Having that amount of leadership taught is a huge benefit for those without playoff experience, especially going into a matchup with a rival.